Trojan Mascot Traveler Posing in Front of a JetBlue plane at the JetBlue USC Trojans Partnership Launch. Photo courtesy of PRNewsFoto/JetBlue Airways.
Last week, USC Athletics and JetBlue Airways finalized a multi-year agreement that makes the innovative airline the Official Domestic Airline partner of the University of Southern California Trojans, with Long Beach Airport as its new home airport.
Though the Trojans will be opening their football season on September 21 with a home game against Hawaii, fans, families and alumni will be able to fly JetBlue to away games at greatly discounted prices. The sponsorship also includes transportation for all 21 USC Division I teams starting this season.
The agreement was made possible in part by the USC Sport Properties, the Fox-owned sales unit that is responsible for the marketing and media rights of USC Athletics.
The announcement took place at the Long Beach Airport—a major hub for JetBlue, which operates over 30 flights a day from the airport and is building a new terminal on the site—and was attended to by Mayor Bob Foster.
Other VIP present include JetBlue’s President and CEO Dave Barger as well as James Hnat, the airline’s EVP Corporate Affairs and General Counsel, USC Athletics Director Pat Haden, USC Head Basketball Coach Kevin O’Neill and Steve Simpson, Senior Vice President of Fox Sports West.
Haden was vociferous in extolling the benefits of the agreement, which will open new opportunities for both USC alumni and fans. He highlighted the kinship of ethos between USC’s academic excellence and JetBlue’s superior customer service.
Dan Shell, Vice President and General Manager of USC Sports Properties added that, in this case, the word partnership is used not as a shallow euphemism, but as a real and effective union between one of the most important colleges in the Los Angeles area and a new Airline that has been able to capture a large share of the market in an impressively short time.
JetBlue’s sponsorship offers a comprehensive multimedia platform that includes exclusive domestic airline partner of the athletic department, sponsorship for select USC football and men’s basketball games and the unveiling of new “JetBlue luxury seats” in the LA Memorial Coliseum.